The latest addition to my collection comes in the shape of five new release Subbuteo teams from Mad About Games.
The two stand-outs of the purchases are the 2015/16 release of the licensed Barcelona home kit and the Champions League black and white team (Juventus).
Both the Barcelona and Real Madrid officially licensed sets come in a different style box to all the other teams, standing in a landscape manner and also including a match ball.
I find these boxes to be far more appealing and would surely be more attractive to young collectors, although they are of course a bit more difficult to store (and I guess for shops to display) than the standard display boxes.
The Champions League licensed teams are a new addition to the PLG/Netcam range, and there are six teams available. One of those is the black and white team, which is a replica of Juventus kit (although not licensed). It is perhaps surprising that no Italian side has a licensed Subbuteo product, given its popularity in the country.
One other Italian release came in this purchase of products with the maroon and white team, modelled on Torino. This is a team I’ve been after for a while but for whatever reason I’ve only just got round to buying it.
I’m not far off having every released team in the PLG/Netcam range, which explains my addition of Portugal. There are a number of variations of the Portugal kit that have been spotted, with different colour shorts and bases. I’ll be trying to get hold of them in due course, but this one will do for starters.
And finally, another licensed team – this time Athletic Bilbao. I’m sure you’ll agree that there is a touch of excellence about the licensed teams, and the extra detail do make them stand out in any collection.
My biggest bug bear with the new collection is the lack of identity on the sides of the boxes, meaning that if you stand up all your teams side by side, there’s no way of telling them apart. It surely would have been a nice touch to have maybe a picture of the figure on the side, or even a description of what team it is.
That’s another reason why the Barcelona/Real Madrid boxes do stand out and are better in my opinion.
